The Social Work Education In Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to inform social workers working in the field, Social Work professional communities (national and international), professionals from other disciplines and social work students, about the history of social work education in Turkey, its’ educational levels, curriculum structure, duration, application requirements and immediate situation and future, besides to increase their knowledge about being aware of the risks of the future of the profession. Social work education in the world started in the United States and European countries in early 1900s while in Turkey it started in 1961. The Academy of Social Work which was founded under the Ministry of Health and Social Aid in 1961 graduated its first class in 1965. Another department was also started within Hacettepe University in 1967 and in 1983. The two departments were merged under the name of Social Work College in Hacettepe University. Hacettepe University Social Work College has the feature of being the only department training in the field of social work from 1983 to 2002. The second social work education department was opened under Baskent University in Ankara and has the feature of being the first social work education department among private universities. Social work education which was started in 1961 was given at the level of bachelor degree until 2002 in Turkey. Since 1983, master’s degree (opened in 1983) and doctoral program (opened in 1987) of “Social Work” were opened in the Department of Social Work under the Institute of Social Sciences at Hacettepe University (Karataş & Erkan, 2005) and has graduated many students until today. That the number of masters and doctoral programs remain limited with only one university caused to fall behind to meet the needs of academicians. Today in Turkey, social work education is given at associate, bachelor’s (formal education and open education), master and doctoral degree. Currently there are 193 universities in Turkey. By the end June, 2017, 50 universities have two-year degree programs (Associate), 58 universities have bachelor’s degree program as formal education and 21 universities have master’s degree programs (17 of thesis, 9 of non-thesis) and 7 universities have doctoral programs. Social work education in Turkey universities is generic and its aim is to produce graduates with skills in a considerable range of practice settings. Issues such as, the historical progress of social work education, the immediate situation of social work at associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, application numbers, application requirements and its curriculum were dealt with. In the discussion part, social work education, the profession, social workers and the risk factors believed to affect the future of the profession were also discussed. In the conclusion part, a general assessment was made.

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